Severance thrives as a rumination on identity, love, and loss. That it takes place within the confines of a bizarre sci-fi setting gives its themes added weight and texture. Watching these characters come to terms with (ahem) woe, frolic, dread, and malice is the real hook, even if this means the mystery can take a backseat. Season one intertwined both aspects of the show with a little more clarity. The second has prioritized the minutiae of Mark, Helly, Dylan, and Irving’s inner lives, which has led to moving, aching, and even confusing outings. But the broader suspense has suffered as a result. This might leave viewers understandably conflicted and lacking in patience about the show’s pace, especially with how everything culminates in the 76-minute-long “Cold Harbor.” If you see the season finale as a character study, though, it’s a potent, absurd, and stunning one that, yes, does leave a lot of things open-ended.
Season two’s sendoff answers questions (those freaking goats!), abandons a few (seriously, what’s up with Ricken Hale?), and raises several others in yet another fucked-up cliffhanger that will make you scream out loud. But a satisfactory conclusion isn’t Severance M.O., at least not yet (not that the show’s team shouldn’t start factoring it in for the future). For now, “Cold Harbor” further pushes its protagonists (and the show’s audience) to question morals, life-or-death dilemmas, and sacrifice, all through the lens of grotesque corporate satire. As we well know, there’s no question this episode’s writer/series creator Dan Erickson loves more than “Who are you?” In the finale, he expands the scope of this query by making Mark (Adam Scott) think about who he is with and without his partner and the world they’ve built. It applies to Dylan (Zach Cherry) and Helly (Britt Lower), too, of course.
This conundrum factors in most to innie and outie Mark, whom I will refer to as iMark and oMark in this recap to make everyone’s life easier. Each one ponders and debates about what tethers their reality. OMark is desperate to get Gemma (Dichen Lachman) out of Lumon and be with her again, while iMark isn’t ready to let go of his relationship with Helly R., even if it means solely being with her in the workplace. It’s such a traumatizing yet juicy problem to give him at this stage when both versions of him are at a breaking point. OMark has nothing left to lose, and iMark fears he’ll lose it all. They have differing opinions and ideas to take down Lumon. Yet, to accomplish anything, they have to work in tandem. But how is that possible when reintegration isn’t fully done yet?
For starters, iMark wakes up in the birthing retreat cabin to Devon (Jen Tullock) and Harmony Cobel (Patricia Arquette) filling him in on the plan to rescue Gemma, the woman he still knows as Ms. Casey: Once iMark completes the Cold Harbor file (his 25th and last at Lumon), he’ll sneak down to the testing floor through the secret dark hallway. The chip won’t work after he gets there, so oMark will awaken, find Gemma, and get her back up to the severed floor. Then iMark will escort her out of the building via the stairway exit. Easy peasy. Except if they pull it off and expose Lumon’s criminal ways, iMark rightly deduces the company could shut down. This means all the innies could be gone forever. He has no intent of sacrificing himself, Helly, Dylan, or any other innies.
The only one who can convince iMark to do anything is himself. Devon and Cobel leave him in the room with a camcorder that contains a video message from oMark so he can watch and leave a reply. Thus begins a mesmerizing back-and-forth between the two halves of the same guy. Their communication morphs from shock and awe at actually seeing each other (even if it’s through grainy footage) to annoyance and anger over what the other is asking of them. The scene lasts for about 10 minutes during which Scott delivers a top-notch performance, doing subtle things to set them apart. OMark is condescending (“Heleny?” Really? That’s cold) and manipulative when he promises reintegration, yet his pain and mourning are visible. Meanwhile, iMark acts like a rebellious child, which makes sense because he’s technically only two years old. Of course, he is going to be annoyingly naive about his future. It’s easy to feel for both of them. Scott also differentiates his character’s innie and outie with physical acting, from slight smiles to the way they express frustration. It’s downright captivating in the same way that Britt Lower was for season two’s first half.
iMark doesn’t trust oMark about reintegration because he hasn’t lived long enough. How much of his personality will be present in this “hybrid”? Plus, he knows Helly will never get the chance to do it because her outie is the next-in-line leader. It’s a valid concern but he’s thinking from the heart. Cobel gets him to think with his head. At least she tries, telling him the obvious: Mark S. and Helly R. cannot have a honeymoon ending. I hate to agree with Cobel, but she’s right. There’s no universe in which the two innies can be happy together in the long run because their universe so far has been surviving in a hellscape. There is a tragic beauty in how they chose to love each other despite their circumstances, but there’s only so far they can go, as seen with Irving (John Turturro) and Burt (Christopher Walken) and even in Dylan’s loneliness and furor after Gretchen’s (Merritt Wever) rejection and the weirdly moving letter from his outie.
Heck, even Helly tells iMark the next day at Lumon that, realistically, he can’t be with Helena Eagan—but at least he can survive if reintegration goes through. Once again, Scott’s delivery of “But I want to live with you” as his voice cracks is profound. But they go through with the plan anyway. iMark completes Cold Harbor in the dimly lit MDR office with Helly by his side. As soon as he does, Severance throws it back to another music-dance experience reward, dialed up a 100. It’s not just Milchick (Tramell Tillman) rolling in a record player and small instrument. A whole marching band rolls in from the Choreography And Merriment department, while a few floors below, Gemma wears her clothes instead of the ones picked for her and marches to her doom, a.k.a. the Cold Harbor room for an efficacy test.
If there’s one thing Milchick is going to do, it’s exhibit his groovy moves, and I thank Severance for it. So in celebrating iMark’s “success,” which Jame Eagan (Michael Silberry) and Dr. Mauer (Robby Benson) are watching through cameras, Milchcik dances with the C&M band crowding the room. The MDR office also gets flooded with blue and green lights—the same colors as Helly’s outfit, by the way. The loud music and blinding lights are a jolt to the system, but it gives Helly the perfect excuse to distract Milchick (she steals his walkie and dashes to the bathroom) so iMark can run off to the testing floor. However, his first disruption arrives when he bumps into Mr. Drummond (Darri Ólafsson) and Lorne (returning guest star Gwendolyn Christie). It’s good she’s back because we now finally know why Mammalians Nurturables exist and why Lumon breeds the animals.
It turns out that once Cold Harbor is done and Gemma passes her test, they plan to kill and bury her with one of the kids. (Hey, that’s what baby goats are called.) It’s a cruel twist on the fact that Gemma wanted to so badly be a mom before she was abducted. But the reveal of why the goats are around, for some form of sacrifice, is disappointing—or rather, it’s basic. Perhaps the buildup to it was so high that most of us assumed it would be a vessel for Gemma’s soul or something more sinister. Instead, Lumon hopes the goat will guide her spirit to Kier Eagan. Again, this is where Severance prioritizing character development over its mysteries comes into play because the expectations for the baby goats were probably higher.
Thankfully, Lorne doesn’t want more killing so she helps defeat Drummond by punching the hell out of him, after which oMark accidentally kills him in the elevator. This leads up to the moment everyone’s been anticipating since Severance revealed that Ms. Casey is Mark’s dead wife. “Cold Harbor” goes from simmering to a boiling point as their reunion approaches, with oMark looking for Gemma. (Helly and Dylan keep Milchick contained inside the bathroom a few levels above.) Thankfully, when he does walk into the room where Gemma’s innie is pulling a crib apart, it’s a gentle meeting despite Dr. Mauer’s shocked interruptions through the speaker. It’s not his voice that gets to Gemma; it’s the tender way in which Mark reveals he’s her husband and she should trust him enough to escape. She might not remember her identity, but their bond remains strong. Honestly, herein lies the crux of Severance. As soon as they walk out, the OG Gemma awakens and they embrace. It’s so genuinely moving to witness Mark sport the widest grin ever as he holds Gemma’s face in his hands.
It’s too bad their happiness is short-lived because once they get up to the severed floor, iMark guides her out of the building but refuses to join her, ignoring her pleas to do so. He’s done his duty for oMark and set his wife free but at the cost of keeping himself trapped inside Lumon so he can be with Helly. His decision is super frustrating, even though I understand why his immaturity would drive it. The man chooses Helly and breezes through the hallways with her, attempting that gosh-darn honeymoon ending that isn’t coming. Against all odds, they’re picking love, making insane and selfish choices in the process. Where do they think they’ll end up? It’s not their concern. Right now, they’re happy where they are. I suspect Mark S. and Helly R. might see the worst of the consequences in season three. Although poor Gemma. She spent two years in captivity only to watch her husband run off with another woman.
At least this heartbreaking closing scene is filmed as cinematically as possible, with red lights flashing to contrast the sterile white of the corridors and Mel Tormé’s “The Windmills Of Your Mind” blasting as Mark and Helly run off into the sunset, so to speak. It’s a visual spectacle that punches the gut and a remarkable shot to end Severance’s second season. There is still plenty the show has to address for the sake of coherence, but kudos to the team for pushing boundaries in its sophomore run, never more so than in this spectacularly weird and moving finale.
Stray observations
- • I’ll call the writers out: I don’t believe that when Cobel and Devon tell iMark “She’s alive” that his response would be “Who?” It doesn’t make sense!
- • Sandra Bernhard is underused but her casting is worth it just for the way she and Adam Scott yell at each other,and how she runs down the hallway screaming “It’s the fucking spouse!” A comedy queen.
- • My compliments to director Ben Stiller, specifically for the number of wide-shot zoom-ins.
- • Dylan’s outie leaves the decision to resign with the innie, and in the surprisingly honest letter, writes about how he likes the idea of a badass, confident innie and hopes to be like him for Gretchen one day.
- • How much running did poor Adam Scott have to do in this episode?
- • I cannot wait for Gemma and Devon to team up to rescue Mark now. It has to happen, right?
- • The way iMark says, “Oh, okay” to the reveal of the goat’s name, Emile, is a lovely reminder of Scott’s comedy background in this deeply dramatic hour.
- • Jame Eagan and Dr. Mauer acting over-the-top happy when Gemma feels nothing while tearing the crib apart rings a little hollow. Of course, the chip’s barrier will hold, as it did with the 24 other rooms she’s been in before, right? Was pulling apart her desire for motherhood the ultimate test and not letting go of her dislike of writing thank-you cards or fear of dentists? It feels anticlimactic, much like the goat sacrifice reveal.
- • Anyway, that was the cutest baby goat ever, right?
- • Tramell Tillman needs to drop his workout routine. And his dance routine. In a show full of tremendous actors, he has once again emerged as a quiet MVP because of how he makes Milchick so creepy and yet evokes empathy for him. He legitimately scared me in the final shot when he escapes from the bathroom and is face-to-face with Dylan G. and the marching band, who are ready for a fight. Give this man more to do in season three.
- • One of my favorite scenes technically and on an emotional level is oMark and Gemma kissing in the elevator as it goes up, and how their expressions turn when they arrive on the severed floor and turn into iMark and Ms. Casey. “What’s taking place?” indeed.
- • Cobel is surprised to hear of Irving’s drawings, so she’s not the mole or whistleblower his outie was talking to on the pay phone. Who the hell was it?
- • I believe Cobel when she tells Mark “I care for you,” adding fuel to why she would turn against Lumon. I do wish Severance had followed through on this with Milchick as well.
- • Here are some other burning questions: Where is Natalie? Who are the other kids Jame has sired in the shadows? How much does the board know about Cold Harbor and why is only Jame there to see it? Did Ricken rewrite his book for the innies? Where is the town of Kier, PE, located? Does Harmony know other tricks about the chip she designed? Why didn’t iMark find out about poor Petey (Yul Vazquez)? What was the point of building up Milchick’s disdain towards Lumon if he wasn’t going to turn on them? Can the security be this poor on the severed and testing floors? Where did the C&M department come from? What pushed Lumon to choose the Scouts for this sick experiment? Where will those testing floor rooms go next? What happens to my beloved Burving?
- • It’s been a pleasure to write about Severance for the past few weeks, and I hope I don’t have to wait another three years to do it again.
